The “Simple Twist of Fate” Bob Dylan once sang about may be a key reason Graham Parker never became an enduring star like Elvis Costello.

Parker, who performs Friday at the all-ages AMSDconcerts in Normal Heights, preceded Costello as the first “angry young man” of British rock in the mid-1970s. A former gas station attendant and a superb singer-songwriter, Parker had attitude to spare. He and his ace band, The Rumour, released two classic albums in 1976 alone, “Howlin’ Wind” and “Heat Treatment.”

The albums earned the top two spots in that year’s esteemed national music critics’ poll in the Village Voice (a feat I don’t think any other artist has since achieved). Parker swiftly won favorable comparisons to Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen, who sang on Parker’s 1980 album “The Up Escalator.” But record company politics and an acute lack of promotion stymied his career. A classic cult artist, he now has nearly three-dozen albums to his credit, including 2005’s wryly titled “Songs of No Consequence.”

Like Joe Strummer of The Clash, Parker and Costello came out of England’s earthy pub-rock circuit, a vital incubator for the punk-rock revolution that soon followed. Like Costello, three years his junior, Parker is not a great singer, technically speaking. But he injects so much into each note that he can say more with one snarled couplet than many more polished vocalists can with an entire album.

Parker’s songs have been recorded by, among others, the Sex Pistols, Rod Stewart, Rick Nelson, the Pointer Sisters, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Dave Edmunds, San Diego-bred Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Chris Hillman and Nick Lowe (who, coincidentally, produced the debut albums by both Parker and Costello).

Parker’s latest release, 2010’s “Imaginary Television,” isn’t a classic. But it’s a well-crafted work, by an artist who’s never rested on his laurels. With a film documentary, “Don’t Ask Me Questions,” nearing completion and an on-screen reunion by Parker & The Rumour in the new Judd Apatow movie “This Is Forty,” it appears he’ll have some new laurels coming soon.